Raanjhanaa

Raanjhanaa is a movie that revolves around the life of a self-centred Zoya, played by Sonam Kapoor. The movie is not about a demented stalker, not about slitting wrists for love, not about politics and not about inter-caste weddings.

Dhanush's first Hindi movie has been doing well and doesn't require my approval. In a lot of places, he does remind us of his previous movies. There is a bit of 3, Kadhal Kondaen and perhaps a few more. Dialog delivery suffers but his acting and emotions make up for the flaws. When the producers released the trailer, they obviously showed the highlights of his hindi speaking skills and the tamil audience were slightly spellbound. That feeling slips away when we get into the mood of the movie.

Zoya is the centerpiece of this movie. Its her intentions (I am unsure if I can use the word selfish to describe her intentions), that drives the so-called protagonist Kundan to do whatever he does in the film. Love is just another emotion in the movie. In fact, Zoya's silence and vengeance are the deeper aspects of the movie that tend to stand out during the second half. 

So men, here are the rules simply put. Even in small towns, your silly pranks and smiles will not work. Get ahead and get smart. Women need more than blood. They want you to be educated and ambitious. What Kundan does in the second half of the movie is unbelievable and absolute nonsense. Its a directorial flaw. And Zoya does get a bit emotional towards the end for Kundan but it was too late.

Nevertheless, the colors in the movie are brilliant. Music heightens your spirits to a completely new level. Raanjhana is best understood when you see it from the eyes of Zoya.

Sadda Haq

The first time I walked into a movie hall in Bombay (mid September), I was totally floored by the trailer. Every movie I saw after that, I used to wish for the trailer to come back again.

Every musical note in this movie was magical and that is the only reason why no one other than AR Rahman could have done this. ROCKSTAR is all credit to ARR. If there is one thing that someone should talk about after seeing this movie is the power of Rahman's music. Music maketh the movie. Rahman got Orianthi Panagaris to play the lead guitar (she used to play for Michael Jackson). Orianthi breaks all barriers and strikes gold right from the first minute. Rockstar is character driven and guitar is the predominant portion of the whole movie. The smashing hit song "Sadda Haq is only proof to that. Not just this one, but every other song represents the mood the character moulds into; be it a fun song in Prague or the qawwali inside Hazra Nizamuddin.

Janardhan Jakhar aka Jordan, dreams of making it big in music while his family wants him to join their business. He idolises Jim Morrison and when we look at the posters and the graphics we get the same feeling as well. He is surprised that fans were so thrilled when JM walked into the crowd and showed a middle finger while he was being slapped by a police officer for making sensible music at the bus stop. His closest aide tells him that the power of music relies in feeling the pain of love, loneliness, betrayal and the journey begins there; but Jordan is simple, clueless and is always confused all the way.

 Ranbir Kapoor has proved himself all through the film. Right fron blending into the costumes, showing the serious attitude and making us feel that the voice lent by Mohit Chauhan (Dooba Dooba fame) is almost his; Ranbir pulls it off quite well. Of course, there are some problems with the guitar and serious guitarists would laugh at that, but we can forget it.

Nargis Fakhri as the Kashmiri lass Heer brings more beauty to the script. Frame after frame, she brings a ravishing touch to the screenplay. Although a lot of things that she does reminds us of Katrina Kaif in a good number of movies in the past, Nargis steals the show being happy-go-lucky. Performance needs a lot of boost and I hope she can do better in forthcoming films, if any. Bollywood is quite open to debuting women beyond 30, which is a really good sign.

Visuals are a treat - streets of Delhi, snow clad mountains and roads, lakes, locales of Prague, Rome, Hazrat Nizamuddin; the choices seem perfect. The film starts off with a concert in Rome - flashes back to Jordan's story and keeps coming back when required. Imtiaz Ali weaves the story aptly to make it interesting till the end.

Overall: Rockstar is a must watch. If not for the script, definitely for the music.

Sountrack

Finally, I get to do some work and its sounds very interesting. Although, I cant discuss what I will be doing; its definitely close to what I have been doing before - except that playing ultimate and working from home is not part of the job description now.

I happened to see this awful film called SOUNDTRACK. Its about this music obsessed hero who wants to make it big in Bollywood and first starts off being a DJ in a club. I didnt know that DJ's in India had so much perks - this guy gets to drink litres of alcohol, smokes up all kinds of stuff and also gets to bed the hottest women in the club. AND he gets paid to do all of that!!! Whatever, the movie had no sense of script and direction. It was a mess. Post interval, our man becomes completely deaf and goes into alternative therapy.

The websites are flooding with research articles about pancreatic cancer. The newspapers in India have also started publishing front page articles with stats about the p.cancer scene in India.

The best news I read today was about SIRI - the talking iphone app for 4S. I was stunned when I saw the video demonstration. It can reply to ur SMS, fix appointments on your phone, lookup restaurants near you and can even give you suggestions on life!!! Everytime I keep thinking what Apple can add to an already feature friendly exotic phone is when they come out with something that you can never imagine.

I started reading a book by name BOUNCE, written by Matthew Syed. The book is fantastic. I think I will be writing a post about the book very soon.

Ghajini - In Hindi

Prayer to God - SRK please dont watch Vaaranam Aayiram and ask Karan Johar to copy the movie for you.

When I walked out of the movie hall, that was the feeling I had about Aamir Khan's Ghajini - a remake of the tamil version. Comparing two movies is not the way to go, but what the hell. I think this way I can represent my thoughts better.

Two hours of this movie is just the same. Copy Copy Copy. This is Bombay and that was Chennai. The last 30 minutes was dealt with concentrated effort to make it look professional.

Aamir Khan has done a lot of hard work in this movie, but gets distinction only. You have to give it to Suriya for his outstanding performance in the tamil version. Khan looks very royal in the first bit. So its a bit difficult for a third tier model to visualise him as an aspiring model. Surya does that part well. He looks pro when he is a CEO and he appears very down to earth during his part with Asin.

Props look more sopihisticated this time. A posh apartment in Hiranandani Gardens is too much to ask for. That too, well laid plans and pictures. Everything looks clean and doesnt look like a house that belongs to someone who suffers from short term memory loss.

Asin steals the show. She is the same Kalpana we saw a few years back but what an amazing performance. Bollywood lassies - beware! Miss Thottumkal has already established her position with class.

Ghajini might be a hit in Bollywood because Bollywood has not seen movies with meaningful scripts for a very long time. Most movies are luxurious commercials. So this movie will definitely go a long way.

Jiah Khan plays Nayantara's role in the movie. I thought Nayantara was such a waste of time in the movie. Jiah says - No, how can that be! I will prove that I am the worst for that role.

AR Murugadoss has done a great job. He has ensured that the second version is much better and cleaner than the first one. As a director he scores more points for the hindi version.

AR Rahman's music. I seriously could not appreciate the songs. Background score was mindblowing. Songs - sorry. Sanjay sees Kalpana and falls in love with her. "Oru Maalai" in Tamil was such a fantastic representation of the mood. Here in the same situation, the song sucks. And then Suttum Vizhi - it was another mega hit song. Perhaps Rahman thought that he shouldn't bring the same mood inside the hindi version but these songs in tamil gave such a boost to the storyline. It didnt do that much impact in Hindi.

Overall: A new experience for hindi movie lovers.

Om Shanti Om - Bollywood Potpourri

Om Shanti Om - the diwali blockbuster directed by Farah Khan was a post diwali trial for me. I usually don't watch hindi movies. I kind of stick to tamil movies - fact is that there are so many getting released that you literally don't get the time. But, for no reason, this is my second hindi movie in a week and my god, I don' wanna be doing anything like this again.

For some reasons, OSO is a good movie. We'll see all that good parts in bits and pieces as we try and strip this movie. The adaptation of the 70s was excellent. Movie begins with Chintu Uncle and his famous OSO song which sets the right mood and tempo for the movie. Excellent work by the editing team. We definitely know that the video being shown is an old piece, but the seamless plugging in of that with the film is quite commendable. And this is not just here, it continues for a few more songs in the first half.

SRK is a junior artist who aims to be a superstar. He is truly, madly, and deeply in love with Shantipriya (Deepika Padukone). Wow, this woman is definitely someone to watch out for. This is her first film and her screen presence makes you flabbergasted. The first half is just the 70s. Most things about the first half of the movie reminds you of what your mom and dad would have witnessed in the theater or within their friends circle - bell bottoms, step cut and wave cut hair-style, checked trousers in bright colors, wide belts with large metal buckles, cute gowns and frocks with polka dots, tight fitting salwars with filigree at the sleeves and neck lines, color matching earrings and bindis. In between all this, I noticed the Ovaltine Ad too. Remember this drink?

SRK takes a dig at everything - the whole industry, the way it works, the filmfare awards, the fits that people throw and some at himself too. At one point he says "overacting to mere khandaan me hi hai" (overacting runs in the blood). And then comes other stuff like "Phir bhi dil hai NRI". The name sentiment is perhaps the best. We know for a fact that a number of heroes - both yesterday and today have changed their original names to what we know them today as. Om Prakash Makhija (SRK) is another one who wants to do that but is not successful.

Kiron Kher is the mother and she is definitely overacting. The SRK Syndrome? She is a painful mother who is so annoyingly loving and caring. Maybe SRK needs such people in his team.

Deepika Padukone (DP) is going to be serious competition for Priyanka Chopra. At 5ft 9in, she is stunning and her smile is so fresh like a breeze after a monsoon. It gives you an eternal feeling. OSO is more an SRK movie - its completely about the hero, but still Deepika plays a very important role and the plot of the movie is around her. DP has totally worked on her style. She has perfected the seventies art of walking and smiling. The turning of head and waving of hands is just flawless. In effect, she is trying to bring back to us the Asha Parekh, Tanuja, Sharmila Tagore, Zeenat etc. And she does a good job in that role. There is one scene where they play badminton. The men in white and women in colorful salwars. A typical 70s setup - more love and less lust.

First half of the movie goes on at an interesting pace and suddenly we realize that an intermission is perhaps best and then the whole drama begins. Within 15 to 20 minutes, we are done and its time for a break. I have no plans of writing the story here.

The Alchemist Philosophy holds good - "when you really want something to happen, the whole universe conspires so that your wish comes true."



Songs are amazing, but the story line does not have any depth. Its totally on the surface and everyone is skating on it till the end. Parts of the movie remind you of Kamal Hassan's superhit film Enakkul Oruvan. Then some parts are like the English movie Grease - don't ask me why. Its just a thought that I got. Then the next is The Phantom of the Opera. The bungalow scene, the lights, the staircase and the chandelier aren't anything phenomenal. All of that looks like an adaptation of the Opera movie. At some places, even the musical notes are comparable.

Well OSO serves one purpose. If a tourist asked what he could take from India as a Bollywood Souvenir, then they can probably buy a copy of this movie. Every top star in Bollywood has made a guest appearance in this movie. So he or she can go back to their country and show a glimpse of Bollywood.